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Centerfire Rifles

3K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  lloyd smale 
#1 ·
So - it looks like centerfire rifles may be allowed for deer in Illinois. HB2783 passed the house back on 4/9, but it will be interesting to see how long it will take the senate takes to vote on it. Just out of curiosity - has anyone read the bill? It looks like they're trying to allow the use of (primarily) rifles that are chambered for straight-walled pistol cartridges. However, they have curiously included bottle-necked cartridges that are .30 caliber or larger, but have a case length that is 1.4" or shorter. Would this not allow the use of the .300 blackout as well? I tried to read through it a few times, but the text is a little confusing for me. If anyone else has any insights, I'd definitely be interested in hearing them!
 
#2 ·
Sounds like a 357 sig or something similar. The blackouts got to be well over 2”.

Anyway, God bless you. Illinois continues to defy my desire to hate everything. 70mph speed limits,Cubs win a World Series, straight wall rifles for deer. What’s next another great Chicago fire?
If I remember correctly you hail from Piatt county? I took the cure over 20 years ago. First Indiana then up here to MN. The Minneapolis crowd looks to
Illinois as a shining example I fear. The rest is pretty well balanced.


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#4 ·
According to the summary of the bill, it says bottleneck cartridges, 30 caliber or larger, with a case length not exceeding 1.4" Case length on a 300 BLK is 1.368, so it sounds like it would be allowed. I can't, for the life of me, figure out why they'd bother including bottleneck cartridges, though. The only others I can think of are 38-40, 357 sig, and 400 cor-bon. None of those are particularly common in the first place.

Anyway, you do remember correctly. I hunt Piatt county and sometimes Brown county. Things are definitely interesting here. I would have left long ago, but the wife wont go for it. Unfortunately, the positive changes we've seen don't come close to outweighing the negatives! Our new governor just saddled firearms dealers with a huge stack of new rules and a new $1500/year state license requirement. A whole bunch of the little guys just went out of business because of it. Also, we're looking at a huge gas tax increase and a minimum wage increase to $15/hr. His next big plan is to do away with our flat income tax and replace it with a progressive tax. I think the only thing that could possibly save this state is another great Chicago fire. I honestly hope Minneapolis doesn't turn into your own Chicago!
 
#5 ·
Guess I was thinking cartridge OAL.

I worked in Deland for a year or so. Covered much of the territory in a 20 mile radius. I remember some absolute brute whitetail deer coming out of that area.


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#6 ·
We've had some really good years, but Illinois' success, combined with piss poor management at the state level, has really put a hurt on our deer population. A lot of people are complaining about this bill that would allow centerfire rifles, but I think the types of weapons allowed has much less to do with deer population than the number of tags they sell. The fact of the matter is that you can still get tons of antlerless tags over the counter, and I know there are a lot of people who buy them up and proceed to stack up the does left and right. Either way you slice it, I haven't bought a firearm tag in several years. If this bill passes, I may have to - I've always wanted to use my 300 blackout on something other than coyotes!
 
#8 ·
I know this is a very old post but this is basically the same regs that were put into place when the state actually had a handgun only hunt in selective counties years ago. It was a doe only and mostly S. IL counties I did it 3 yrs. IIRC it was less than 20 counties and what I ran into in the federal camp grounds was a bunch of crazy drunken ass cowboys that were cops from mostly the Chicago area. Looking back now no wonder... what they were doing was just blowing off steam. Anyway the reg was straight wall cartridge .30 cal and up and a bottle neck at least .30 cal 1.4in or less. I had a
300 Whisper built at the TC Custom shop. It shot 120grain clover leafs and I tried to get it to shoot 160 and 180 grain bullets subsonic plus others iirc it had a 1-8 twist not a standard 1-10 this was yrs before the 300 Blk Out I really don't know for sure as I have never had a Blk Out case to measure but I think they were nearly identical. Sorry for long post but I ain't been here for yrs. Kurt
 
#9 ·
those laws are archaic today. Might have made sense back when shotguns shot buckshot and coventional slugs and muzzle loaders shot round balls and used a percussion cap but the shotguns with saboted slugs are easy 200 yard guns today and muzzle loaders with some loads are used out to 300. Most guys i know that hunt would be hard pressed to make good shots on deer at a 100. Id think they would rather have you shoot an 06 or 243 that shoots one inch groups so it can be used precisely then a shotgun that might shoot 4 inch groups that you might miss with at 300 yards and even hit something else. Cant tell me that when faced with a boone and crocket buck at 300 yards that those shotgun shooters are going to pass on the shot. Now we even have rounds like the 350 legend, 444, 450 ect that are capable of 300 yards. So how are they safer then a precision rifle in a bottle neck chambering that will put a bullet on a dime at 300 yards. Michigan is kind of comical at these laws. They restrict the down state people that for the most part hunt in fields that you can see anything for a 100 yards around where the deer is standing to straight walled rounds and the guys up here that hunt in thick woods and swamps can use a 300 ultra mag if they want and cant see something 10 yards behind where the deer is standing.
 
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